Senior gardaí allowed a corrupt sergeant to run a campaign of harassment targeting a Donegal family wrongly implicated in a botched murder investigation, the Morris tribunal found today in its seventh report.
The final two, seventh and eighth, reports of the Morris tribunal into allegations of corruption in the Donegal division of the Garda are being published today.
In its seventh report, the tribunal described Sgt John White’s policing in Raphoe, Co Donegal, as inappropriate and at times farcical, and the inquiry has concluded that his superiors were aware of the over-the-top methods but let him continue.
“I am satisfied that the actions taken by gardaí in Raphoe in the period January 1997 to August 1997 under the directing hand of Sergeant John White constituted harassment,” tribunal chairman Mr Justice Morris said.
“In carrying out these acts the sergeant acted with the full knowledge and approval of some of the most senior officers in the Donegal division.”
In an 18-month period Raphoe publican Frank McBrearty snr was hit with 68 summonses by local gardaí. The nightclub boss said officers in Donegal orchestrated a campaign of harassment against him, his family and staff in a bid to drive him out of business after the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron.
Gardaí wrongly treated the death of Mr Barron - a hit-and-run victim - as a murder inquiry. The most recent report from the tribunal, published in May, found that several of those arrested were mistreated in custody. The death of Mr Barron remains unsolved.
In its report, the tribunal said it was satisfied that by 1997 the Garda believed the McBrearty family were dangerous criminals, believed Mr McBrearty snr's son and nephew had been responsible for the unlawful killing of Mr Barron; believed the rest of the family "engaged in a conspiracy to protect the two main suspects"; and that Mr McBrearty snr was interfering with the Garda investigation and intimidating witnesses.
"Garda management had made up their minds that steps had to be taken to deal with the problems as they perceived them in Raphoe. They wanted someone to deal with Frank McBrearty Senior. Sergeant White was selected for this job," the tribunal found.
"I am satisfied that he [White] was sent to Raphoe with a clear mandate to address public order issues. This was to be done by a strict enforcement of the liquor licensing laws," Mr Justice Morris said.
"I am satisfied that the officers in Letterkenny, being Chief Superintendent Fitzpatrick, Superintendent Fitzgerald and Superintendent Lennon were, kept fully briefed as to what was happening on the ground in Raphoe."
Mr Justice Morris went on to say: "The fact that these officers have subsequently come into the tribunal and tried to distance themselves from the actions that were taken by the sergeant on the ground is an appalling dereliction of the duty that they owed as officers to the men serving under them."
The tribunal said it was satisfied that the enforcement regime put in place by Sgt White, and endorsed by his senior officers, "was not commensurate with proper policing in a rural area".
Mr Justice Morris stated: " two obstinate men, being Frank McBrearty Senior and John White, came head to head. Neither was prepared to back off in the face of the other. Sergeant White became almost obsessive in the level of attention he paid to the McBrearty nightclub premises."
The seventh report is concerned with claims of harassment of 12 people wrongly arrested in December 1996 during the inquiry into the death of cattle dealer Mr Barron and of employees of Mr McBrearty snr.
The report also examined the effectiveness of the Garda Complaints Board in dealing with complaints from the families.
Mr Justice Morris concluded that the Garda Síochána Complaints Board was attempting to deal with circumstances "far beyond its capability given the limited nature of its resources and in particular the limited nature of its investigatory powers".
"The apparatus provided for under the Garda Síochána (Complaints) Act, 1986 was never designed to deal with corruption on the scale witnessed in Donegal."
The eighth and final report relates to allegations of high-level corruption made to two Opposition TDs.
The final two reports were delivered to the Minister for Justice on September 25th and had to be published within 14 days unless the Minister applied to the High Court to delay publication.
The publication of the reports brings to an end the longest inquiry into the force since the foundation of the State. The Morris tribunal began its sittings in March 2003 and has heard evidence from more than 1,000 witnesses over 685 days until it concluded in December 2007.
Last week Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore repeated calls for a full Dáil debate on the tribunal’s findings.
The Government previously promised that the issue would be discussed in the Dáil when all reports were published. Tánaiste Mary Coughlan said she would ask the party whips to meet to decide the details of holding a full Dáil debate.
Last May, the sixth report found rogue detectives conjured up evidence and made bogus arrests during the botched Barron murder investigation. Judge Frederick Morris also found that officers had cheapened justice and damaged the reputations of innocent families.
Earlier this year, Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said he profoundly regretted that members of the extended McBrearty family were mistreated by the force.
Mr Murphy said he was deeply disappointed that the tribunal also found that some of his officers did not co-operate fully with the inquiry.
Additional reporting PA
